I got my game in... Lost 27-24 against the Rams and now sit at 1-2 on the season. I really need some help in the secondary as I get picked apart and I still can't complete a pass across the middle to save my life. LB's are on homing mode for me.

Flacco is leading the league in passing yards and INTs with 8 through 3 games played... I think about 7 of them are games I've played.

Suck for Luck, Madden Online Franchise Edition. No worries on hurrying. When I give a warning, it usually means, "Maybe sometime tomorrow or the next day so long as I don't get to dicking about and forget about it."

Still no successful recruiting by anyone? We're all socially retarded AND bad at Madden?

I'm 2-1. Was going for 3-0 today but lost horribly to the Raiders. One of the most disheartening games of Madden I've ever played. First mistake was using the Steelers playbook. I can't think of a worse playbook for my style of play. A big hit made Shonn Greene fumble, and after the fumble he refused to break any tackles. The speed of the Oakland corners neutralized Santonio Holmes downfield, and Sanchez threw two picks attempting to get the ball to Holmes downfield (whooops). The defense was very good, but missed a TON of opportunities to make big plays and I ended up having to play MLB all game (normally I play safety) because the LBs were getting wrecked up the middle. I played like crap, and my team didn't help at all.

Trav, if you could reject the trade I made that's fine. I was only trying to get Spiller OR Byrd, I honestly didn't expect the computer to say yes but instinct always makes me propose the ridiculous offer before the sane one. I guess the Bills REALLY wanted Barton.

Sarlacc, on comparing .NET to Soccer: And why not? It's a bunch of people running around in circles, feigning pain, and never scoring.

Apparently I can't. I have a pending trades screen, but can't seem to do anything about them... Other than seeing my own request sit there not doing anything. Everyone else's, I see after the fact. I'm an Online Franchise virgin, so I really don't even know if the trade logic works with OF.

Judging from a quick research of the interwebs, they didn't do jack squat to the Online Franchise from Madden 11. This means, along with no FA period or salary caps or stuff that might be implied by the term 'Franchise', no trade logic.

Seems like a pain in the ass to try and houserule for a four-person franchise. I am jaded. So, what's the vote? Seems like trades is a workaround for the lack of FA, but when you can trade Johnny McSuckster for Peyton Manning it's tough to regulate.

I have one vaguely questionable one in process, myself, from this week -- Like Kyle said, I try to angle for a slight rip-off in my favor before the negotiating really gets down to it. Was trying to dump Thomas Jones (83 Ovr) to a RB-desperate team for some improvement on the D-Line.

Thinkin' I'll turn it off, since even if it's not fun with no player movement, it's also not fun when you can just do whatever the hell you want. *shakes fist at Madden Dev team* Ah well, offline franchise is improved.

Pulled an ass-ugly win off against the Vikings. Comeback from being down 21-3, thanks to a pick-6 followed immediately by a fumble returned for a TD on the ensuing kickoff. Charles had a decent game, but Cassell looked horrible. Not entirely his fault, thanks to some free pass sacks and a couple times his wide-open #1 receiver dropped passes off the hands.

It's randomly occurred to me that we need to house-rule in-season free agent pickups. Now, this is just a hypothetical for-instance and I'm not pointing fingers at anyone or anything, but we should probably agree upon a rule that would prevent anyone from, say, dropping 9 scrubs at once and replacing them with Madden-Overrated free agents like T.O. and Lofa Tatupu out of nowhere for no realistic reason.

I'm thinking we can work free agency like a draft. Not even week-to-week, really, just rotate 'FA Control'. If you have the bid, you can pick up whoever the hell you want. If you don't have the bid, post your Desired FA here and whoever's ahead of you can have the opportunity to go, "Hey, that's a good idea" and snatch him up.

With no real fair way to start, and since I just freshly pulled the idea out of my ass, I'm going to go with alphabetical order.

So, sammy keeps one of the aforementioned... ah, camp invites, then passes control to Snoho, then Spounge, then I'll pull up dead ass last.

As far as pace goes, I'm good with one full round per week -- With additional compensatory bids for significant (I'm thinking 4 weeks) injuries. Seconded?

Crap. I have a really early schedule this week for work (I'm on Wichita time due to some meetings and getting up at 4:30am... and getting off work at 5:00... ugh), won't really be up past nine until Wednesday at the earliest. Maybe not until Thursday or Friday.

Sarlacc, on comparing .NET to Soccer: And why not? It's a bunch of people running around in circles, feigning pain, and never scoring.

Tonight sounds good. I'll be on around 8 then. If I'm playing BF just send me an invite and hopefully I'll see that. If some reason I am not on tonight, I WILL absolutely be on tomorrow before the game.

Sarlacc, on comparing .NET to Soccer: And why not? It's a bunch of people running around in circles, feigning pain, and never scoring.

Kyle and I just finished out game. Game was tied 7-7 at the half and it was pretty even... except I forced a punt late in the 2nd qtr and instead of fair-catching the ball around the 50, my guy signaled and then bailed allowing the ball to go back another 40 yards... So I had to march down the field and tie it up...

And then the game hate started. I'm already INT prone, but playing against a smarter player like Kyle is just a bad thing for me. Flacco (I) threw another 3 INTs along with a killer fumble deep in our own territory that pretty much ended the game for me. Kyle played a great game and deserved to win no question, while I was very sad and purple afterwards.

The only thing that really kept the game close for parts were Kyle's inability to kick a FG (Jay Feely Style) and two turnovers when he was marching and deep in the redzone. Unfortunately, I couldn't capitalize while Kyle and the Jets did. GG Kyle.

GG Sammy, I was worried throughout the game. Hope to see you in the playoffs.

Does everyone else hate the OL pass protection? I have my offline sliders cranked up so that I can complete a pass of more than 3 yards. My only shots more than 10 yards past the LOS were on blitzes, which seems a tad quick to me. Holding onto the ball any longer is just asking for the trouble.

I suck at field goals. I mean, I don't think Folk has much of a leg (that second kick I hit 98% power and he couldn't get it 51 yards. Loser.) but the first one was pure suck.

My corner's won the game. Picks for Revis, Cromartie, and Wilson. Allowed me to blitz like crazy which shut down Rice and beat up Flacco. They're seriously the only thing I like about this team, with a normal set of corners it'd have felt like playing as the Browns, which counts as one of the most frustrating experiences of my life.

This got me thinking, it really would be cool if we were in two divsions in different conferences (ideally we could pick the divisions that play eachother cross-conference). I know someone floated the idea and it kinda died on the vine, but it might be cool. One division would be tough because most divisions have a "suck" team (except the NFC North would probably work, I refuse to be the Vikings on moral grounds but I think they'd be a decent team and they're the "worst" of the bunch) that would be unfair (ie the Browns in the AFC North)... I'd be down for something like that either concurrently with this Franchise or after this season is over and I win it all . It'd probably progress slower since we'd need to coordinate times, which is why I think it'd be a good league to run at the same time as this one. But you all have lives, so I don't know if you guys have the time.

Sarlacc, on comparing .NET to Soccer: And why not? It's a bunch of people running around in circles, feigning pain, and never scoring.

Snohomie wrote:GG Sammy, I was worried throughout the game. Hope to see you in the playoffs.

Does everyone else hate the OL pass protection? I have my offline sliders cranked up so that I can complete a pass of more than 3 yards. My only shots more than 10 yards past the LOS were on blitzes, which seems a tad quick to me. Holding onto the ball any longer is just asking for the trouble.

I suck at field goals. I mean, I don't think Folk has much of a leg (that second kick I hit 98% power and he couldn't get it 51 yards. Loser.) but the first one was pure suck.

My corner's won the game. Picks for Revis, Cromartie, and Wilson. Allowed me to blitz like crazy which shut down Rice and beat up Flacco. They're seriously the only thing I like about this team, with a normal set of corners it'd have felt like playing as the Browns, which counts as one of the most frustrating experiences of my life.

This got me thinking, it really would be cool if we were in two divsions in different conferences (ideally we could pick the divisions that play eachother cross-conference). I know someone floated the idea and it kinda died on the vine, but it might be cool. One division would be tough because most divisions have a "suck" team (except the NFC North would probably work, I refuse to be the Vikings on moral grounds but I think they'd be a decent team and they're the "worst" of the bunch) that would be unfair (ie the Browns in the AFC North)... I'd be down for something like that either concurrently with this Franchise or after this season is over and I win it all . It'd probably progress slower since we'd need to coordinate times, which is why I think it'd be a good league to run at the same time as this one. But you all have lives, so I don't know if you guys have the time.

Yeah, I'd mentioned a single division league, simply because we have four people and it'd guarantee everyone plays one another every season. Same problems you mention, timing + who plays the suck team. With the free agency and trade problems that exist in online franchise, whoever gets the suck team is probably going to have the suck team for a few seasons.

Sammy, didn't get a chance to send that invite yet -- Though I'm wondering how good a prospect 'Probably can't play' indicates.

I also don't like single division because it'd make our postseason mostly against computers. But a two-division league would make for interesting postseasons. Same conference or not, I guess if we went in two conferences we'd get the chance for the SB to be for players.

Sarlacc, on comparing .NET to Soccer: And why not? It's a bunch of people running around in circles, feigning pain, and never scoring.

Or, hell, a fantasy draft league would let us all put together the team we wanted and not worry about sucking quite so much with everyone on the same footing. THAT would require a little more planning, though, at least for the setup.

If I work with some stuff, what's a good time that everyone can be around? I work nights, so it'd have to be either stupid late or stupid early. Since I think I'm a couple time zones behind everyone, the former probably works better.

I'd be fine doing a fantasy draft, as well, but our teams will probably look a little unrealistic. Still, I bet it'd be loads of fun.

I'm usually home/able to be home from 4:30-9:00 (I can stay up til 10, 10:30) M-F. I can make time during the weekends as long as I'm not missing a Ducks or Seahawks game. I might have another ridiculous stretch of meetings next week, so if we do a weekday we should do it this week.

Sarlacc, on comparing .NET to Soccer: And why not? It's a bunch of people running around in circles, feigning pain, and never scoring.

During the week I'm usually home anytime after 2:30 pm (pacific) and I don't mind staying a little late or getting up a little early. Weekends tend to be a little harder for me as I'm usually working until about 5, and when I'm not working I have homework to do.

I'm working Tuesday & Wednesday night. I'll see what I can set up and how it works out -- # of divisions, teams, whatever. I want to have enough CPU teams so we're not all ridiculous all-stars, so team-building comes into play a LITTLE bit.

Thursday or Friday night for a draft might work. Maybe 9pm Pacific.

Edit: I've discovered some annoying tendencies on the couple of fantasy drafts I've played with offline franchise. I'll go berserk on the O and D-line, and secondary, then oh-wait, a solid running back and tight end, but don't forget the linebackers... Next thing I know, I'm drafting Colt McCoy in the 27th round as my starting QB. I'm Pete Fricking Carroll.

Yeah I've ended up with lopsided teams in the past as well. I have a tendency to start the season as the lowest-ranked team in the league because I keep taking young guys instead of vets. I am consciously aiming to keep that to an almost reasonable level this game.

If we want to be in the same division, we should determine what division and what teams? I don't want to be Pittsburgh or the Browns, too much anger towards both teams. Or Minnesota because I have pride. Or Oakland. Otherwise I'm good wherever.

Sarlacc, on comparing .NET to Soccer: And why not? It's a bunch of people running around in circles, feigning pain, and never scoring.

I'll mess around with it and see if I can come up with ideas. In the meantime, same house-rules regarding FA. Thinking of adding in a game starts HR, as well. (Dude, 7 starts? Suspicious person is suspicious.)

Yeah, sorry about that. My PS3 kept losing my connection at what seemed like random times last week. I think I figured it out though, it seemed to be happening when my roommates were online as well (I share a connection with 3 other people).

Also, if we are going to start over I would suggest that who ever is going to be commish makes sure that the latest rosters are downloaded before we start.

So, looking at teams people hate brings me to the following one-division or two-division options:

NFC South

AFC South

I'm looking at some options: 1-Division League or 2-Division League. Pros/Cons, getting the timing right, not too big of a deal with the small group. 2 division could -potentially- have a User Player SB, but with 28 CPU teams out there I'm not thinking it's a sure thing by any stretch.

Draft or No Draft. Obvious pros/cons there, as well. As far as a no-draft league goes, it looks like the AFC South is pretty tight, talent-wise... That's assuming a Manning-free Colts. Actually, even -with- Manning, the Colts aren't that horrifying. Latest roster is showing me: Texans 84, Titans 82, Colts 79, and Jaguars 83

Having a draft blasts that into pointlessness. So, the single division league makes the entire season a fight for the division title or a wildcard spot. Also guarantees there'd never be a User Super Bowl. A two-division team locks two players into playing each other twice and maybe playing the others? Either way, keeps the two married to one another for the season and fighting with the CPU teams for the playoff slot.

Another cool idea if we did AFC/NFC South is that they play each other this year, so even if we split divisions 2-2 we'd play 4 user games (2 division games and 2 opposing conference division games) and we'd all play each other at least once. I'm down for that.

Okay, so AFC/NFC South it is. Looks like an overwhelming 'Meh' on the fantasy draft thing. One yea, one nay, two abstains. Heh. Considering that it's more work, and can make for some weird teams, we can skip it.

Needing a system for team-picking. Naturally, I like the 'I'm from Texas, so I'll take the Texans and the rest of you can suck it' system... BUT in the interest of fairness, let's let the records in the original experimental franchise dictate.

Either way -- Just pipe up here with your AFC pick, your NFC pick, and preferred division. We'll sort it out from there. People picking the same can have a couple rounds of sack tapping for it. (Or, better current W/L record wins the pick.)